Take 5: Tips for quitting smoking in 2014

Choose a reason that is strong enough to outweigh the urge to light up. That’s one strategy recommended by University Health and Counseling Services, which offers a range of smoking cessation resources. Photo via Thinkstock.

Many smokers make kicking the habit their top New Year’s res­o­lu­tion. It’s a pop­ular goal, so much so that there are more former smokers in the U.S.—nearly 50 million—than cur­rent smokers, according to the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion. We asked Northeastern’s Uni­ver­sity Health and Coun­seling Ser­vices to pro­vide some strate­gies to help smokers quit as well as a run­down of the smoking ces­sa­tion resources avail­able to stu­dents, fac­ulty, and staff.

• Choose a reason that is strong enough to out­weigh the urge to light up, and then set a quit date.

• You don’t have to do it alone! Tell your friends and family that you’re trying to quit. Their encour­age­ment could make the difference.

• Set your­self up for suc­cess. Quit­ting cold turkey is not easy to do. Nico­tine is addic­tive, and in its absence, you may encounter symp­toms of with­drawal. So it’s impor­tant to ask your clin­i­cian about your options.

About the Writer

Greg St. Martin is the senior editor for news@Northeastern. He joined Northeastern in March 2010 after working at a Boston newspaper for six years. Outside the office, he enjoys playing basketball, basking in the glory of finding great parking spots, and listening to the comic genius of Steven Wright. Follow on Twitter: @gstmartinNU

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